The Prince Albert Mintos begin a four game road trip, starting with a pair of games in Estevan for the third of four straight against the Bears.
Last weekend, the Mintos took both games from the Bears at the Art Hauser Centre, winning by 5-1 and 5-3 scores.
Jacob Cossette leads the team in scoring with five goals and ten assists, for a total of fifteen points. He is tied with Ben Riche of the Regina Pat Canadians for the league lead in points. Six of Cossette’s points came against the Bears last weekend, as he tallied two goals and an assist last Saturday, as well as a goal and two assists in last Sunday’s win.
Cossette says the club has to be ready to face a hungry Estevan group looking for redemption.
“We have to come prepared, make sure we stay out of the penalty box, and be ready for these guys,” he said.
Ashton Tait and Ryland Martin lead the Mintos in rookie scoring so far. They have both scored three times to go along with two assists for five points.
Meanwhile to say it’s been an impressive start for Minto goalie Ty Shumanski would be an understatement. Shumanski is in his second year with the Mintos organization, and so far has put up a 3-0-0-0 record, with a .935 save percentage and a 2.25 goals against average. In his last start against Estevan, he turned aside 30 of 31 shots for his third win of the season, and the Mintos fourth overall.
On the other side of the spectrum, it has not been the start the first year Bears team was hoping for. A 1-6-0-2 record to begin the season has them dwelling near the bottom of the Saskatchewan U18 hockey league, with just four points in 9 games.
Caden Drury leads the Bears in scoring, putting up five goals and two assists so far. He was held off the score sheet in both games in Prince Albert last weekend, but the Mintos will have to keep an eye out for him when he steps on the ice, since he’s proven he can make plays from anywhere in the offensive zone, especially when he is on the ice at the same time as teammate Tucker Buhay.
For the Mintos, the gameplan is the same. Be disciplined and don’t make any small mistakes that can lead to the puck ending up in their net. Over the weekend, the Mintos were forced to kill two 5 on 3 powerplays, and in the second period of their game on Sunday, there were three misconducts and numerous roughing penalties handed out in the second period of a heated affair.
The next two games in Estevan will be the last two games these two teams will play against each other this regular season.
Puck drop from Affinity Place in Estevan on Saturday is at 4:00pm.